Drivers are being offered free parking in the city centre as a ‘thank you’ for their patience during the Regent Road roadworks.
The Regent Road roadworks have been causing misery for any poor soul trying to get in or out of the city centre, day or night since they began in August last year.
Now, Manchester City Council has announced parking charges will be waved on council street bays on Saturdays and Sundays for the weekends of January 12 – 13, January 19 – 20, January 26 – 27 and February 2 – 3, from 12pm – 8pm.
However, the offer doesn’t include meters in the heart of the city centre and only applies to bays in designated areas on the outskirts of town, including those around Piccadilly Station, Castlefield and near HOME Manchester. Stickers will be attached to machines serving bays where parking will be free, click here for the full list of locations.
Council bosses say the free parking is being offered to thank residents for their patience while major works are carried out to Regent Road. The works are aimed at easing congestion on the ring road around Manchester and Salford city centres. The council also claims they will boost businesses by encouraging more visitors to come to the city centre during winter weekends.
A spokesman for Manchester City Council said the Manchester-Salford Inner Relief Route scheme is set for completion this summer. The work will see six major junctions along Regent Road significantly enhanced, increasing their capacity by up to 20 per cent, reducing congestion and boosting local air quality, while also ensuring a better route for pedestrians and cyclists. It will help to futureproof the inner relief road, ensuring that it can cope with more new jobs and economic growth in the two cities.
Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for the Environment, Planning and Transport, Councillor Angeliki Stogia, said:
“Our city centre is benefiting from major investment in its road network, which will ultimately bring about real and lasting improvements to traffic flow, which are necessary to keep our city moving while it continues its rapid growth. However, we know that major projects of this kind cannot be completed without causing some short-term disruption.
“This offer of free parking for the next four weekends is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to residents for bearing with us while the essential work is completed, while also promoting our fantastic city centre businesses, by encouraging more people to come into the city to enjoy the wide range of shops, restaurants and cultural attractions on offer.
The improvement works, which have been agreed as a Greater Manchester priority for reducing congestion, are being carried out jointly by Manchester City Council and Salford City Council and are funded by the Government’s Local Growth Fund.
For more information click here.